There is a bargain bookstore close to my house, and that is indeed a good thing. I had some time to kill yesterday and found myself perusing its shelves. On my way to the counter with a David Sedaris book, half hidden behind a sign was a book of poems by Alice Walker. Her first in 10 years. She told her friends she “would probably not be writing anything more.” When they asked what she would do, she replied, “I would like to become a wandering inspiration.”
Alice and her daughter were living in their house on the central coast in Mexico during 9/11. This collection of poems poured out of her shortly therafter, dismayed that “once again whatever questions had been raised were to be answered by war.”
Alice has spent time studying the herbs of the Earth and their properties, including partaking in many Ayuascha ceremonies and eating magic mushrooms. She explains that until about 500 years ago, all peoples used the Earths herbs to commmune with the spirit world.
If you are into poetry, I highly recommend Absolute Trust in the Goodness of the Earth. Alice is a true heroine to me and an immensely gifted writer and teacher.
Here is one of my favorite poems from the collection.
The Breath of the Feminine
Smoking
In boardrooms
Eating
Carrion
At thirty thousand
Feet
Still
Remember
Before foulness
Becomes
Inseparable
From air:
The breath
Of the Feminine
Is sweet.